Archive for the ‘Charles Dickens’ Category

We’re excited to go see the new Disney film, A Christmas Carol, starring Jim Carrey (we may actually go see it on Christmas night).

After reading Plugged In’s review (and what we’ve heard by word of mouth), the movie sticks closely to Charles Dickens’ story so think twice before taking young children to see the movie as they might find it a little too scary.

Have you seen the movie yet? Leave a comment and share your review with the rest of us…

Then, a few inches above floor level on the bottom shelf I spotted a small book with a beautiful cover…but the title is what grabbed me: The Man Who Invented Christmas.

“Another attack on Christmas,” I thought, assuming it was a story about some evil capitalist pig responsible for the commercialization of Christmas and rendering it nothing more than any other holiday.

Curiosity got the best of me, so I picked it up and read as much as I could in the 10-15 minutes before my flight. Not near enough time, but what I was able to read certainly convinced me that I need to get this book and read it.

Not some toy company CEO, or Macy’s board of directors, or ad agency is the subject of Les Standiford’s latest book. The subject is no less than Charles Dickens: the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era, and one of the most popular of all time. Standiford describes…

…how a struggling Charles Dickens came to write the small book that would transform a somber, faded holiday into the celebration of charity and good cheer we know today.

Just before Christmas in 1843, a debt-ridden and dispirited Charles Dickens wrote a small book he hoped would keep his creditors at bay. His publisher turned it down, so Dickens used what little money he had to put out A Christmas Carol himself. He worried it might be the end of his career as a novelist.

The book immediately caused a sensation. And it breathed new life into a holiday that had fallen into disfavor, undermined by lingering Puritanism and the cold modernity of the Industrial Revolution. It was a harsh and dreary age, in desperate need of spiritual renewal, ready to embrace a book that ended with blessings for one and all.

I still haven’t had the time to read the book, but I will (famous last words). If you’ve read it, please comment and share your review with the rest of us.